{"id":280685,"date":"2026-05-06T02:43:41","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/280685\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T02:43:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T02:43:41","slug":"texas-tech-students-plan-on-campus-funeral-for-academic-freedom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/280685\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech students plan on-campus funeral for academic freedom"},"content":{"rendered":"

Onlookers might spot an unusual scene Thursday at\u00a0Texas Tech University<\/a>: a horse-drawn carriage carrying an urn and books, trailed by veiled students and faculty.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The participants say they\u00a0are mourning the \u201cdeath\u201d of\u00a0academic freedom<\/a> in Texas. \u00a0<\/p>\n

“In lieu of flowers, we ask participants to bring objects representing the blessed memory of academic freedom,” James\u00a0Snoddy, founder of Raiders Against Censorship, said in a news release. “This is not symbolic exaggeration; this is a serious response to a year of decisions that threaten the integrity of our universities.”<\/p>\n

Raiders Against Censorship is planning the protest with Students Engaged in Advancing Texas, an education advocacy group known as SEAT. The “funeral” will take place during the meeting of the Texas Tech University System Board of Regents, where some students also plan to testify. The groups will be holding a \u201cwake,\u201d the procession and a press conference they\u2019re calling a \u201ceulogy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Texas Tech University System officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

Students with SEAT said they’re providing participants with black hats, gloves and veils, helping to mark a \u201cdeath by a thousand cuts\u201d to academic freedom at Texas higher education institutions. Academic freedom is the right of faculty to teach and research the subjects they choose, according to their expertise.<\/p>\n

Last month, Chancellor Brandon Creighton announced that the Texas Tech System is ending academic programs \u201ccentered on\u201d sexual orientation and gender identity. His office also banned future graduate students from conducting dissertations and theses on the topics, and he placed teaching restrictions on the subjects, resulting in hundreds of course modifications.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“This work is about ensuring that every course we offer is rigorous, relevant, and directly tied to preparing students for success in a 21st-century workforce,”\u00a0Creighton said in an April letter to the system’s presidents and provosts. “It is about reinforcing the integrity of our curriculum, strengthening public trust, and maintaining our competitiveness as institutions of higher education.”<\/p>\n

The new rules come as part of a statewide push<\/a> to root out alleged liberal “indoctrination” on college campuses. Creighton has been one of the leaders of that charge.\u00a0As a former state senator, he authored the state’s bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a> programs and hiring at public colleges and universities, and he wrote a bill limiting faculty influence<\/a> in campus decision-making processes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Onlookers might spot an unusual scene Thursday at\u00a0Texas Tech University: a horse-drawn carriage carrying an urn and books,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":280686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[168,170,169],"class_list":["post-280685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/280686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}